A parallel control architecture combining muscle-specific motor drive with broadly expressed oscillatory inputs shaping motor neuron synchronization
- 1Universite Cote d'Azur
Abstract
It remains unknown whether oscillatory brain activity associated with sensorimotor behavior is routed selectively to task-relevant muscles or expressed more broadly, including in task-irrelevant muscles. Here we combined electroencephalography with large-scale recordings of spinal motor neurons innervating the tibialis anterior. Participants maintained a submaximal dorsiflexion while performing a Go/No-Go task in which the instructed response was either a ballistic dorsiflexion or a ballistic handgrip contraction, making the tibialis anterior task-relevant or task-irrelevant, respectively. Alpha- and beta-band modulations observed at the cortical level were largely expressed in motor neuron output, including in the task-irrelevant motor neuron pool. The peripheral expression of these modulations differed across frequency bands: alpha was partly effector-dependent, consistent with more selective transmission to the task-relevant pool, whereas beta was largely effector-independent, consistent with broader expression across motor neuron pools. Using simulation-based inference, we found that task-related changes in motor output were best explained by modulations in net excitatory drive, whereas alpha- and beta-band inputs contributed primarily to motor neuron synchronization. A complementary simulation showed that this synchronization may facilitate rapid changes in motor output. These results support a parallel control architecture in which low-frequency drive determines motor output, whereas higher-frequency oscillatory inputs shape synchronization within motor pools more broadly, potentially setting the motor system in a state that favours rapid adjustments in output.
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BibTeX
@misc{hug2026parallel,
title = {{A parallel control architecture combining muscle-specific motor drive with broadly expressed oscillatory inputs shaping motor neuron synchronization}},
author = {F. Hug and F. Dernoncourt and C. Naveilhan and W. van den Hoorn},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.64898/2026.05.16.725172},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.16.725172v2},
note = {CC BY-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A parallel control architecture combining muscle-specific motor drive with broadly expressed oscillatory inputs shaping motor neuron synchronization
AU - F. Hug
AU - F. Dernoncourt
AU - C. Naveilhan
AU - W. van den Hoorn
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/16
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.05.16.725172
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.16.725172v2
AB - It remains unknown whether oscillatory brain activity associated with sensorimotor behavior is routed selectively to task-relevant muscles or expressed more broadly, including in task-irrelevant muscles. Here we combined electroencephalography with large-scale recordings of spinal motor neurons innervating the tibialis anterior. Participants maintained a submaximal dorsiflexion while performing a Go/No-Go task in which the instructed response was either a ballistic dorsiflexion or a ballistic handgrip contraction, making the tibialis anterior task-relevant or task-irrelevant, respectively. Alpha- and beta-band modulations observed at the cortical level were largely expressed in motor neuron output, including in the task-irrelevant motor neuron pool. The peripheral expression of these modulations differed across frequency bands: alpha was partly effector-dependent, consistent with more selective transmission to the task-relevant pool, whereas beta was largely effector-independent, consistent with broader expression across motor neuron pools. Using simulation-based inference, we found that task-related changes in motor output were best explained by modulations in net excitatory drive, whereas alpha- and beta-band inputs contributed primarily to motor neuron synchronization. A complementary simulation showed that this synchronization may facilitate rapid changes in motor output. These results support a parallel control architecture in which low-frequency drive determines motor output, whereas higher-frequency oscillatory inputs shape synchronization within motor pools more broadly, potentially setting the motor system in a state that favours rapid adjustments in output.
ER -